Aliens | book one |

Eight: friend or foe

I stare at Steph for a good minute. Shocked still. I sigh, sitting on the ground as she walks over in front of me and sits down. My ears flatten as I look away. "Steph, is there any way to stay like this? Like getting trapped?" I asked, pretending to be curious. "Trapped? Not anymore since they got rid of those old models." she explained. I looked over at her. "So, where are those old models?" she tilts her head in confusion. "Are you saying you want to become Kay'aya? Why on earth would you want anything like that?" Steph asked, putting her head in normal position.

"Kay'aya seems a lot more funner than being a normal human, Kai seems like a great alien himself as well," I say with hope in my voice. "What?! You can't just leave! That's impossible, Savanna! You can't just become his chosen. He has to make that decision." she said loudly with a gasp. "What is a chosen? I thought they just called themselves mates." I asked. "A chosen one is a Kay'aya's forever mate, like a husband or wife in the normal world!" she explained. They word 'normal' is kicking in. But I refuse to think about earth at the moment.

"That makes sense." I chuckled. "So, I'm assuming there is no way to stay on Rockuo, after all, I'm already kicked out of the clan." I sigh. Looking down at my feet as I crisscrossed.  "" I look up at her hopeful. I moved from being crisscrossed to on my knees as I listen. She chuckled. "Really? I'm not even sure if it's possible." she tilted her head looking at me. I blink twice waiting for what she said before to happen. "A creature that is extinct. It's called the Extractal. Ever heard of that before?" she scoffed. Those things? That long skinny thing that looked like a gecko?

I nod. "Yes, I think I have it somewhere in my dorm. Back on earth, I need to get it. Is there any more left?" I asked in worry. "Did you even listen to a word I said? They're extinct. They don't exist anymore." she spoke rudely. "But.. how do they transform you from being human too.. them?" I asked. "Well, they are spirits. Some spiritual connection." she said. "I need to bring those back. On the paper, it said they're figuring out how to bring it back. But that was a long time ago and obviously it's probably not anywhere on the planet.." I look at the ground as I stand up. No ideas come to mind.

"Is that the only way?" I ask. She shrugs. I turn my body around, thinking. "Well, I thought they said all of them were spirits? That they thought the creatures were trying to tell them something?" I asked, turning my body back around to Steph who is still sitting on the floor. "I don't believe that will work on us." she admits. "You never know." I say. Silence invades us both.

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We walk around, looking anywhere for clues. Steph lazily following behind me. I noticed there's a creature in the distance. I point as I stop, putting my hand on her shoulder to make her stop walking as she turns to me in hope. "Did you find your little creature?" she asked looking at me. I nod. Looking back at my finger as it shakes. Her eyes widen as she notices the creature. It notices us and I smile. Waving. "Hi! Are you a spirit?" it dashes for us and I smile greatly thinking about my new life. Steph grabs my hand and begins running, and I almost fall over, racing behind her.

"Why are we running?" I asked loudly as the creature picked up speed. "That's a Cocoon! It's dangerous in the night!" Steph explained while running at top speed, I could barely keep up with her. I heard it growl and I slipped. Steph let go of my hand and stopped running almost slipping, but she caught herself. She crouched down quickly and helped me up, but my foot was stuck in some type of root. I put my hand over to the root and immediately started grabbing on it as quickly as I could to notice the Cocoon was going to be right at us.

"Steph, I can't get my foot out of the root!" I yell, almost beginning to cry. She can hear the sadness in my voice as she continues pulling at my arm. She jumps over to my foot and begins grabbing her knife, the one she was sharpening from before I noticed it was her. She began cutting the root as quickly as she could, but her fingers were slippery and the knife kept slipping away. I rest my arm behind me as I try to make myself sit up but I keep failing. The Cocoon gets closer. She cut it out and drops her knife. She jumps back over in front of me and I try to get myself up, but she mostly helps me.

"Down, Somocahi!" A female voice is heard. Steph immediately stops, and I stand to notice the Cocoon has completely stopped in front of us. It sits down and turns to its owner. It wags its tail as the female Kay'aya pets it slowly. His tongue slowly coming out of his mouth. "I haven't ever seen you around the forest before, maybe Notei, but definitely no one like you have I seen before." she slowly withdraws her hand.

Steph looks around as she nodded her head, clearing her throat back to her broken English. I looked at both of them many times before I spoke. "Uh, I'm from the Kay'aya clan, Savanna." I gulp as I look at Steph. "I am Panti, Ilume and Zamio's protector, and warrior." she spoke softly. "What are you doing out here all by yourself, especially with Somocahi?" Steph asked again in her broken English. "Eh' Neoownd local fish around in the rivers of Nani," Panti spoke in Kay'aya then English. Steph nodded, I think nodding was a symbol of respect, which I would do very more often to the leader and to Panti.

"Come, I'll bring you back to the village." she turned around, flicking her finger at Somocahi. He stood up and turned around to follow his owner. I raised my hand up. "Wait!" I say, surprisingly, the Cocoon stopped and turned his head to look at me with widen eyes. As if I was his commander. She also turned, rotating her body, then just her head looking at me and Steph, we stood where we were. "We can walk by ourselves, Panti." Steph chuckled nervously. Panti turned her gaze towards her.

She nodded without looking at me back, but I still had my gaze on her. Her Cocoon raised its little ears, not sure who to follow, he soon makes a decision when his leader gets too far away from him. I watched before looking back at Steph. "So you almost killed the both of us. Good job." she laughed before returning back to the tree trunk. I smiled and laughed with her as I follow behind. "Hey! I technically saved us!" I yell.